419 scam: "The National Lottery"<test@chaincommerce.com> WINNING NOTIFICATION

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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- ",000,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- ",500,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
1. They don't notify winners by email.
2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +447045797637 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "The National Lottery" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <richardmolton@zing.vn>
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2011 16:41:30 +0100
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION

The National Lottery
P O Box 1010 Liverpool, L70
1NL UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)
Tel: +44 704 579 7637
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369

WINNING NOTIFICATION:

We happily announce to you the draw (#954) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,
online Sweepstakes International program held on Thursday 12th May,
2011. Your e-mail address attached to Ticket Number: 56475600545 188
with SERIAL NUMBER 5368/02 drew the Lucky Numbers:
11-18-20-23-32-48(Bonus No 25.), which subsequently won you the lottery
in the 2nd category i.e. match 5 plus bonus. You have therefore been
approved to claim a total sum of £1,500,000 (One Million, five hundred
pound sterling) credited to file KTU/9023118308/03.This is from a total
cash prize of £12,000,000 shared amongst the (8) lucky winners in this
category i.e. Match 5 plus bonus.

All participants for the online version were selected randomly from
World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from
over 100,000 unions, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed
online. This promotion takes place weekly. Please note that your lucky
winning number falls within our European booklet representative office
in Europe as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your
£1,500,000 (One Million, five hundred pound sterling) would be released
to you as soon as you reach this offices. We will immediately commence
the process to facilitate the release of your funds upon receipt of your
full data. Eg. Full name, address, telephone, Age and Occupation. For
security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information
confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to
you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize. This is part of
our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse
of this program. Please be advised that confirmation of your Ticket
Number is to be made by you too during reply.

Yours faithfully,

Mr. Richard Molton
Fiduciary Agent/Online coordinator
UK NATIONAL LOTTERY Sweepstakes International Program

Email: richardmolton@zing.vn

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam